A friend of mine dug a little bit into Acts 15 and the 4 things or is it 5 things...that are for those turning towards God. A really interesting piece:
Maybe its just me, but I have always found it to be odd that the counsel in Acts 15 only gave the gentiles four requirements. Why only four? That seems like an odd number, doesn't it? Not only that, but these four requirements also seem random. Why not give them the 10 commandments? Why not tell them the two most important of all? (Love the Lord your God... Love your neighbor as yourself)? Yet there is no mention of any of that. Seems rather odd.
In the past, I had spent some time looking into this, and discovered that these four requirements are all centered around pagan idolatry.
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[/ol]So it should be obvious by now that these four things were given to these new converting gentiles, because idol worship was what they were coming out of, and those were things that were necessary to give up right away. There is no way that those gentiles were gonna be allowed to be a part of Gods people while drinking blood, fornicating, and eating things they shouldn't. They were defiled and unclean, and I cannot see them being allowed into a synagogue to learn while openly doing that.
These four requirements make better sense now. But I felt like there was more I was missing. Yes, these four things are connected to idol worship, but it says in verse 28 that this decision was pleasing to the Spirit. Why would four random requirements (or commandments) be pleasing to the Spirit?
Acts 15:28 "For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon you no greater burden than these necessary things;"
I took some more time, and studied further into this matter, and I would like to share my findings, and thoughts.
The stranger
Most of the time, whenever I start studying a topic, I will find myself venturing off down different rabbit trails. You study a topic and quickly find issues that cause you to divert off to another topic, trying to find answers. Once you do, you can make your way back to the original topic, only to find yourself off on another rabbit trail. This is exactly what happened here, so bear with me as we go through this.
The first thing I did, was to look up all the places in the law that say not to drink blood, fornicate, eat things strangled, and things polluted by idols.
Fornication
As I had mentioned in a previous note, "fornication" is basically a large circle that encompasses all sexual immorality. In the law, these things can be found in Leviticus 18. Rather than copy the entire chapter here, I would highly recommend that you read that entire chapter for yourself. Its goes over a very wide variety of sexual sin.
The important thing to note about Lev 18, is found in verse 26:
"You shall therefore keep my statutes and my judgments, and shall not commit any of these abominations; neither any of your own nation, nor any stranger that sojourneth among you:"
Pay close attention to, "stranger". Notice that these laws of sexual immorality are not only for the children of Israel, but also for the stranger.
** I would also like to point out that chapter 20 also covers some of this as well.**
Blood
Drinking blood, or I should say, the commandment against drinking blood, is found in Leviticus 17.
"Leviticus 17:10 "And whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers that sojourn among you, that eateth any manner of blood; I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood, and will cut him off from among his people."
And again in verse 12
Lev 17:12 "Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you shall eat blood, neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood."
Once again, we see that the stranger is mentioned here.
Foods polluted by idols
Now this one is a little tricky. We have to read a few verses here, and put them together to see the bigger picture.
Leviticus 17:3,4 "What man soever there be of the house of Israel, that killeth an ox, or lamb, or goat, in the camp, or that killeth it out of the camp, And bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer an offering unto the LORD before the tabernacle of the LORD; blood shall be imputed unto that man; he hath shed blood; and that man shall be cut off from among his people: To the end that the children of Israel may bring their sacrifices, which they offer in the open field, even that they may bring them unto the LORD, unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, unto the priest, and offer them for peace offerings unto the LORD."
God says that they were sacrificing out in the open fields, out of the camp, and this was not what they were suppose to be doing. He wanted them to bring their sacrifices unto the door of the tabernacle. Why exactly were they sacrificing out in the open fields? That just seems really odd. The answer is in verse 7.
Leviticus 17:7 "And they shall no more offer their sacrifices unto devils, after whom they have gone a whoring. This shall be a statute for ever unto them throughout their generations."
Ah! So that's why they were doing it. They were sacrificing out in the fields, outside of the camp, to devils! Now some of you might already be seeing the obvious here. At the beginning of verse 3, it says, "what man soever of the house of Israel". There is no mention of the stranger here, but don't worry! We have to keep reading!
Leviticus 17:8,9 "And thou shalt say unto them, Whatsoever man there be of the house of Israel, or of the strangers which sojourn among you, that offereth a burnt offering or sacrifice, and bringeth it not unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, to offer it unto the LORD; even that man shall be cut off from among his people."
Did you catch that? Whether it be a man of the house of Israel, or a stranger, and they do not bring their sacrifice to the door of the tabernacle, they shall be cut off. Now why would it say they are offering a sacrifice, but not bringing it to the door of the tabernacle? The answer is simple. Because they're out in the field sacrificing it to devils! They are offering sacrifices, but not at the door of the tabernacle. Where else would they be offering it at? In a field, to devils! And this definitely includes the stranger. This is where "food polluted by idols" comes into play.
The very next verse jumps right into the subject of eating blood, and right after that, it talks about eating things strangled, or died of itself. Why is this important? Consider the context! He just told them not to sacrifice to devils out in the field, right? What exactly do you think they were doing while sacrificing to devils? Were they having a cold drink and eating burgers while sitting by a fire? No! They were eating blood, and eating the meat that they had just sacrificed to devils. Why else would these things be spoken of back to back? It would be the modern day equivalent of saying, "Don't sacrifice to devils out in the field, and if I catch anyone drinking blood and eating meat that you have sacrificed to a devil, you're gonna get your butt kicked!"
Yeshua also spoke of this in Revelation:
Revelation 2:14 "But I have a few things against thee, because thou hast there them that hold the doctrine of Balaam, who taught Balac to cast a stumblingblock before the children of Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication."
Revelation 2:20 "Notwithstanding I have a few things against thee, because thou sufferest that woman Jezebel, which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants to commit fornication, and to eat things sacrificed unto idols."
Clearly He is against it, and against those who cause others to do it.
Things strangled
Now this is where we suddenly get a curve ball thrown at us, and we end up going down a rabbit trail. This law is found in Leviticus 17 as well.
Leviticus 17:15,16 "And every soul that eateth that which died of itself, or that which was torn with beasts, whether it be one of your own country, or a stranger, he shall both wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and be unclean until the even: then shall he be clean. But if he wash them not, nor bathe his flesh; then he shall bear his iniquity."
Here we have the laws about not eating anything that has died of itself, or torn by another animal. In other words, the blood has not been drained, and the animal was not killed the correct way. Notice that is does include the stranger.
Now if you're like me, you probably like to check other places where the same laws are mentioned. Sometimes they are repeated, and its always good to check to see if there is any variation in how the commandment is spoken. Sometimes it might be vague in one place, but then have more detail with it in another. Sure enough, this law is found again in Deuteronomy.
Deut 14:21 "You shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk."
Uh oh! Now we get what appears to be a contradiction. We saw earlier in Lev 17 that the stranger could not eat anything strangled, but now it says the stranger can eat it. Why the change? Remember that Deuteronomy was 40 years later, so what happened in that 40 year span, that now the stranger can eat it?
The problem here is not a contradiction, nor a change of the law, but rather, it is our English Bibles making things misleading and confusing. The word "stranger" is found many times all throughout the law, and for many people, especially those within the Christian world, when they read through the law, and see "stranger", they tend to think its always referring to the same type of person. But this is not correct. To be honest, its a poor job on the translators, because they chose one word, and used it as a one size fits all translation.
Lately, I've been using the LXX (Septuagint) in my studies to check and see how things are worded compared to the Hebrew. So I decided to use it first, and check these places where the word stranger is used to see what it might say. Would you like to take a guess at what it says?
In the verses we went over in Lev chapter's 17 and 18, every time we see the word stranger being mentioned, its the word, - proselyte. I think we all know what a proselyte is. Simply put, a proselyte is an individual that is converting. A gentile converts over to the faith, and therefore he/she is a proselyte. Whats important about this word, is that it implies faithfulness and commitment. This is not someone that's just visiting, or hanging around to see the show, and then leaves. This is someone who is now part of Gods people. They are being taught.
So in Lev 17, God says that the stranger - - proselyte - is not to eat anything that died of itself, or strangled, and if we compare this to Deut 14:21, where God says that the stranger can eat it, the word for stranger is - paroike . It refers to a person that is an alien, or stranger, in the sense of perhaps visiting, or not part of the native people. This person may be residing there, but is not part of Gods people. It does not refer to someone that is a proselyte. These two "strangers" are not the same type of people. But the English word "stranger" is used here on both occasions, and causes confusion.
So now the contradiction seems to be solved. One is a proselyte, and the other is a unnaturalized sojourner. After seeing this, I immediately thought of Exodus 12, with all the Passover instructions, and how it talked about the stranger not eating it. This was something I had studied before, but could never come to a solid conclusion on who this stranger was.
Exodus 12:43 "And the LORD said unto Moses and Aaron, This is the ordinance of the Passover: There shall no stranger eat thereof:"
No stranger can eat it? I wonder what the LXX says.
- allogens - one of another nation or race
The Hebrew says: nekar - h5236
No one of another race or nation can eat the Passover. So once again, we see our English Bible getting in the way and causing some confusion. But lets keep going, because there is more.
Exodus 12:45 "A foreigner and an hired servant shall not eat thereof."
A foreigner? The LXX uses:
- an unnaturalized sojourner, or temporary dweller. Its the same type of person (same word) spoken of in Deut 14:21 with the stranger that could eat the strangled meat. This same stranger that could eat the strangled meat, cannot eat the Passover.
The Hebrew uses, toshab - h8453 - someone that is not a native citizen - a foreigner
Exodus 12:48 "And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the Passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof."
Would you like to take a guess at what word is used here for stranger? If you said - proselyte, then you would be right. The proselyte can eat the Passover.
Exodus 12:49 "One law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth among you."
Again, one law shall be to him that is homeborn, and unto the stranger that sojourneth - - proselyte
Do you see a pattern forming here? It appears to be making a distinction between a person who is a convert (proselyte) that is part of Gods people, and someone that is a stranger, and not part of the Gods people. The issue here seems to be the use of the English word stranger. This also happens in regard to the Sabbath.
In Exodus, there are two places that talk about the Sabbath.
Exodus 20:10 "But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates:"
Exodus 23:12 "Six days thou shalt do thy work, and on the seventh day thou shalt rest: that thine ox and thine ass may rest, and the son of thy handmaid, and the stranger, may be refreshed."
These two verses also mention the stranger. If you think - proselyte, is used, then you are correct again. So not only are converting gentiles suppose to obey those four requirements, but the Sabbath is also a commandment for the proselyte.
So now that we've gone down this rabbit trail, its time to climb out and get back on topic, but before we do, you might be wondering why I have not mentioned many Hebrew words here.
In Hebrew, the word for stranger, is ger - h1616.
In the Hebrew Masoretic text, it occurs 93 times. In our KJV Bibles, the Hebrew ger is translated as stranger 87 times. Proselyte - - 4339 is the corresponding noun in the LXX (it occurs 80 times), and is seen in the Greek NT four times. From what I can tell, the LXX seems to give a clearer meaning since it uses - proselyte, compared to the Masoretic text ger - stranger. Out of the 93 Masoretic text occurrences of ger h1616, the LXX translates it eleven times as 3941, sojourner, instead of proselyte 4339. The Hebrew word that would correspond to the Greek 3941, would be toshab h8453. It occurs 27 times in the Masoretic text.
I could go on with a few other words, but then this note would become very lengthy, and I wanted to keep it as short as possible while trying to stay on track. If you want to know more about this, I highly recommend searching for, ger, toshab, nokree, nekar, and zoor. Just those words alone could make up a very lengthy note.
Okay, so now back to the main topic. These four requirements in Acts 15 are in perfect alignment with the law in regards to proselytes. After all, these new converting gentiles were now proselytes, and were being discipled, just as they were in ancient times. I believe this is why it was pleasing to the Spirit to render this decision. It was in agreement with the law, and there really isn't any way to argue out of it. Think about it for a moment. You're there in the 1st century, the counsel is trying to decide what to do with these newly converting gentiles. What better decision than to do what the law already says to do with proselytes! Its like a template that's already there. God gave instructions in the law concerning proselytes, and the counsel must have noticed it, and used it. The Spirit was pleased with this.
Acts 15 enforces the idea that anyone converting to the faith, will be joined to Gods people, and when you become a member of the household of God, there are rules you must abide by. Most people read it and think that it says that gentiles only have to obey four requirements and that's it, but as we have seen, that is not the case. Converting gentiles (proselytes) also have to observe the Sabbath as well. You might be wondering, "Why didn't the counsel mention the Sabbath?" They did!
Acts 15:21 "For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day."
"For" is a preposition, and when used as a conjunction, (as seen here in verse 21) it can be translated as "seeing that", "since", or "because". So it should read as:
"But that we write unto them, that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood. Seeing as how Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
In other words, "We're only going to give you these four requirements, because we know the law is preached in the synagogues, every Sabbath, and we know you'll be there to hear it."
They knew Moses (aka, the law) was preached every Sabbath in the synagogues, and these new proselytes would be attending to hear and learn.
So, what have we learned in all of this?
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Shalom